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WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS?

What will you do with Jesus?
Will you set up your fine nativity,
place the baby Jesus in
sit back and watch His angelic face
vaguely staring back at you?

What will you do with Jesus this year,
will you put Him in a box
gently wrapped in tissue paper
on the highest shelf atop?

Take Jesus out of storage.
Praise Him as the King of Kings!
Pay homage at the manger
and with the angels sing
“Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
He is Emmanuel!
God who dwelt among us
Your worship He compels.

For who else can offer eternal life?
Who can break the seven seals?
Who can pay the sin offering for all mankind
with blood shed sacrificially?

We’ve all a debt for sin we owe.
The wages for sin is death.
Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.
There is no other way.

What will you do with Jesus
the babe who in the manger lay?
His salvation is with in your grasp
the ransom has been paid.

Just believe on Him,
that He is the Son of God
and that He died upon the cross
the lamb unblemished by one sin
for you He paid the price.
He bought our wretched, sinful souls
in exchange His righteousness.

The baby Jesus is not an ornament,
an accessory to your manger scene.
He is the promised Messiah.
The Prophets told of Him.
Isaiah said, “Unto us a Child is born,”
seven hundred years before
His name would be “Emmanuel”
His kingdom without end.

God has had this plan for you
a life He wants to give
not the fading, temporal kind
that rots with death and sin
but life with Him eternal
reigning with Him in His realm.

What will you do with Jesus this year?
Will you take the life He gives
or will you settle for dear Santa
and his busy little elves?

Copyright MaryBethMullin

Christ is born!

Though Christ a thousand times

in Bethlehem be born,

If he’s not born in thee

thy soul is still forlorn

–Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)

Love Came Down at Christmas

Love Came Down at Christmas
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love Incarnate, Love Divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

–Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1885

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Baby Jesus, Born to Die

Baby Jesus, small and soft
born that star-filled night
for ages prophets had foretold
Light to pierce the night

Your heavenly home You left behind
put eternal things aside
to enter human time and space
a temporary home.

why would You,
Almighty King
Lord of all the Lords
come down to earth to be with us
so far below Your throne

the cross it is the centerpiece
instrument of pain
see where blood was flowing down
the lamb on it was slain

O Jesus, help me see the truth
Your life was not in vain
Your coming was to meet my need
Yours a blood sacrifice

the living, it was needful
without blemish You were found
yet dying was the pinnacle
my sin stain it removed

in dying You gave your life for me
propitiatory substitute
in rising You opened eternity
rendered the accuser mute

a baby born to humble means
lain in a manger bare
is only part the story told
look further if you dare

the only true and living God
the one they call “I AM”
He kept His promise in the child
He sent His Son, the Lamb

Copyright MaryBethMullin

It was love, mere love; it was free love that brought the Lord Jesus Christ into our world. What, shall we not remember the birth of our Jesus? Shall we yearly celebrate the birth of our temporal king, and shall that of the King of Kings be quite forgotten? Shall that only, which ought to be had chiefly in remembrance, be quite forgotten? God forbid!

No, my dear brethren, let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, from wrath, from death, from hell, be always remembered; may this Savior’s love never be forgotten! But may we sing forth all his love and glory as long as life shall last here, and through an endless eternity in the world above! May we chant forth the wonders of redeeming love and the riches of free grace, amidst angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, without intermission, forever and ever!

And as, my brethren, the time for keeping this festival is approaching, let us consider our duty in the true observation thereof, of the right way for the glory of God, and the good of immortal souls, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; an event which ought to be had in eternal remembrance.

George Whitefield, Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

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Who is He?

Who is He? The world has struggled with this issue since Jesus came on the scene more than 2000 years ago. Was Jesus simply a man? Was he a great prophet or teacher? Or was He the Christ–the Messiah–the Promised One, fulfilling hundreds of prophecies of the Old Testament prophets?

1. What does Isaiah 7:14 foretell about Jesus (the Messiah-the Promised One)?

2. What does Isaiah 9:6-7 tell us about the Messiah?

3. What additional information is given regarding the Messiah in Isaiah 11:1?

4. What do you learn from Isaiah 53:1-3

5. When did Isaiah live and give his prophecies?

6. What does the prophet Micah tell us about the birth place of Messiah in Micah 5:2?

7. When did the prophet Micah live and give his prophecies?

8. What does the prophet Zechariah tell us about the Promised One in Zechariah 9:9?

9. When did the prophet Zechariah live and give his prophecies?

10. When read these prophecies, given hundreds of years before the person they describe was born, by three different men, and you learn that they came true in the person of Jesus, what does that make you think about the Bible? God?

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Psalm 4

Read Psalm 4
1. What does David ask of God in verse 1?

2. What 2 things does David know about God according to verse 3?

3. What instructions does David give in Psalm 4:4-5?

4. What does verse 7 teach us about God?

5. What does David tell us about his sleep in verse 8?

6. How can you apply the promises and instructions of this psalm to your own life? Give examples.

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Psalm 3

Read Psalm 3
According to the Open Bible this is “a lament, which contains elements of both petition and praise. Many of the laments end on a note of praise, signifying that the psalmist had prayed through his problem and realized god’s presence, care, and eventual resolution of the difficulty.”

1. Re-read the story of David when he fled from Absalom in 2 Samuel 15:13-17. This Psalm was written by David during this time period. What does David tell the LORD in this Psalm?

2. What is the progression of ideas in the Psalm – is David in the same place at the end as he was at the beginning? What is different?

3. How does David describe God in the psalm?

4. What did God do for David according to the Psalm?

5. In this Psalm, David expresses confidence in God – what do you think is the reason for this confidence in God on David’s part?

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Psalm 2

Read Psalm 2
Psalm 2 is described in the Open Bible as the first of the “royal messianic psalms.”
1. Do you see people in the world today raging against God? Why is this?

2. How do the following verses show this prophecy being fulfilled?
▸ Mark 3:6
▸ Mark 11:18
▸ Luke 19:14
▸ Acts 4:25, 26

3. Who is it referring to when it says “kiss the Son, lest He be angry?”

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Psalm 1

Read Psalm 1
Because the Psalm is short, try to read it over several times during the week. Maybe even in different translations.
1. The term “blessed” can be translated “oh so happy” or “living optimally, blissful, happy” or “oh the blessednesses! List 3 things the “blessed” or “happy” man does not do?

2. How would you explain or translate the 3 things listed above to life today? To your life? What should you not do?

3. Consider the verbs “walk,” “stand,” and “sit.” What is the difference? What is the psalmists point in using these three words in progression?

4. What do the following verses teach about those who walk in the way of wickedness or evil?
▸ Proverbs 1:15

▸ Proverbs 4:14

5. What do the following verses add about how the word will keep you from evil?
▸ Joshua 1:8

▸ Psalm 119:92, 97

6. We see in this Psalm that the Psalmist describes the blessed man like tree. What characteristics does he assign to this man?

7. What does Jeremiah 17:7-8 add to this picture?

8. What is chaff? Look it up if you are not familiar with it.

9. What do the following verses teach about God’s knowledge of the righteous man?
▸ Psalm 37:18

▸ Nahum 1:7

▸ John 10:14, 27

▸ 2 Timothy 2:19

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